Day out at the Beeb

I write this from my conservatory with the sun occasionally popping out from behind the clouds and silly ducklings chasing bugs outside. Having spent the last couple of hours trying to start a new book chapter, I thought I'd take a quick break and write a blog post. So, the most exciting thing that's happened relates to the blog title...

Last post I mentioned that something exciting had happened that I wasn't allowed to tell anyone. Well, I was invited down to BBC Broadcasting House to be part of an AHRC (Arts/Humanities Research Council) collaborative project on Scottish identity (I know, I know!). It was a great day full of incredible research, amazingly inspirational academics and producers, and the chance to walk through BBC Persia to get to the loo! I had a great time - hopefully it will lead on to other stuff in the future.

I spent the weekend recovering from my London trip, riding Tommy and watching films. Lovely! We are now nearly halfway through our Insanity programme. It has been really tough but I love a good fitness challenge. It's just good fun and I enjoy challenging myself. In fact this term has been all about testing myself, failing, succeeding, testing myself again. This is the nature of academic life but I guess it should also be the nature of life generally. I need to keep feeling I am moving forward: learning new things, being challenged by new things, being tested in new ways. Moving forwards is a great thing!

For those who are interested, the ducklings are doing very well. We have a family of eight who are huge and a family of seven who are smaller. They have started scrapping over the past few days and D has had to stand between them! Harry the hedgehog has also been out more than usual, wandering along in the sunshine. Our garden is full of happy animals! We've also finished Homeland series 1 (pretty good, annoyingly unresolved ending) and watched Moonlight Kingdom (a really beautiful and funny film recommended by D's aunt).

Anyways, the chapter beckons again. I have about another hour to go on it. It's going surprisingly OK so far. We are just about to enter assessments so I wanted to get things done before they arrive. Next week is a monster!

CSW